On Friday, September 4, AIR, a team of alumni from Ritsumeikan Moriyama High School’s Sci-tech Club, met with Chancellor Yoshio Nakatani to report their individual first place victory at the RoboCup Junior 2026 World Championships in Incheon, South Korea. RoboCup Junior is an autonomous robot competition designed to help children and young people learn about robotics and AI. This year’s event took place from Wednesday, July 1 to Sunday, July 5, bringing together approximately 3,000 participants from around 40 countries and regions.

AIR consists of three first-year university students—Asahi Uchida (College of Science and Engineering), Kengo Nakazawa (College of Information Science and Engineering), and Kosuke Kano (College of Information Science and Engineering) —and the team qualified for the world championships by winning RoboCup Junior Japan Open 2026 Aichi in March. Competing in the Soccer Lightweight division at the world championships, AIR achieved an outstanding overall result, earning an individual first place finish.

In the Soccer Lightweight division, teams of two robots pursue an infrared ball and compete to score goals against their opponents. One of RoboCup Junior’s signature events, the competition tests autonomous control using sensors and cameras, mobility, and coordination between robots, all of which can determine the outcome of a match.

On the day of the competition, the three students adapted flexibly to conditions that differed from those in Japan, modifying their code and adjusting their robots on site. They also actively exchanged technical ideas and took part in cultural exchanges with competitors from other countries, and earned high praise for their presentations and interviews.
In the knockout stage, the team put the results of their hard work on full display, securing a decisive victory even against an opponent they had lost to in the preliminary round and going on to claim individual first place at the world championships. AIR also placed third overall in the Super Team competition, in which multiple teams join forces to compete, and tournament participants voted AIR the most outstanding team, recognizing them with the Community Award.

During the meeting, Uchida said, “At last year’s competition in Brazil, we were disappointed to fall just short of reaching the final, so winning this time was the happiest moment of my life. Going forward, I would like to do what I can to support younger club members and children in the local community.” Nakazawa and Kano also expressed their joy at winning the world championship, reflecting on the achievement as the result of a team effort.

Chancellor Nakatani praised the team’s remarkable victory in the world championship and expressed high expectations for the members’ futures by saying, “I hope you will continue to explore the possibilities of robotics, including the prospect of starting your own businesses.”